Weekend Post: Good, Fresh, Uncomplicated Names

Eat’s ethos

Since I shared this photo in last week’s Spot post, I’ve been thinking about the Eat ethos, which is good, fresh, uncomplicated food.

What would be the naming equivalent?

Let’s break it down.

FRESH

Fresh is often used (and I’m particularly guilty of this one) as another way to say unusual, but one could also see it as a name that hasn’t been overexposed.

In the end I settled for 4 set criteria for a name to pass this category and go on to the next category. For a name to be fresh in my eyes, it must not be:

• A name that has been in the Top 100 for 10 years at some point in time
• A name that ever been #1
• A name that has been given to a high profile celeb offspring
• A name that has risen more than 100+ places in the Top 500 since 2000

Taking this into consideration, names that fail this category include:

1. Amber
2. Amelie (up 1420 since 2000)
3. Chloe
4. Harry
5. Jack
6. Kayden (up 1326 since 2000)
7. Lexi (up 1949 since 2000)
8. Oliver
9. Suri
10. Thomas

GOOD

For a name to be good, I believe it has to have little negative connections such as an evil forebearer (whether fictional or not) or less-than-lovely meaning.

8 names that would fall down at this hurdle, but would’ve passed the previous category include:

1. Adolf – self explanatory
2. Azrael – aka The Angel of Death
3. Bellatrix – think Harry Potter
4. Dolores – means sorrows + think Harry Potter
5. Gretel – Hansel&Gretel tale
6. Louhi – name of a death goddess in Finnish mythology
7. Memphis – the US city known for crime
8. Mordred – rival of Arthur in Arthurian legend
9. Nuala – the Nuala in Irish mythology was less-than-nice
10. Persephone – means murder /to destroy

UNCOMPLICATED

What makes a name complicated? One could say it is a name which causes little spelling/pronunciation issues, such as James and Ruby.

8 names that fail this test, but passed the previous two include:

1. Caoimhe – pronounced KEE-va
2. Ceridwen – pronounced ke-RID-wen
3. Eluned – pronounced EH-lee-ned
4. Heliodoro – just generally a mouthful of a name
5. Joachim/Joaquin – just generally a name that causes me a headache when it comes to pronunciation
6. Schuyler – pronounced SKY-ler
7. Solveig – pronounced SOL-vay
8. Xanthe – pronounced ZAN-the

So, without further ado, here’s the list of  some of the names I think  pass all three tests:

BOYS

1. Angus
2. August
3. Barnaby
4. Bruno
5. Caspian
6. Cosmo
7. Ever
8. Ezra
9. Fergus
10. Gray
11. Indigo
12. Ivor
13. Rio

GIRLS

1. Avalon
2. Blossom
3. Coral
4. Gwen
5. Hero
6. Ingrid
7. Josie
8. Lux
9. Nova
10. Orla
11. Roma
12. Rosemary
13. Vera

Do you dispute any of these choices? Are there any names you think qualify too?

Kings&Queens

Diamond Jubilee Celebrations

The Queen is in Nottingham!

Eek! Naturally I have to make the most of this glorious occasion, and it seems the best course of action is to talk about names to do with the monarchy, whilst I’m busy off waving a little flag in the Market Square.

Moreover, this is a list of names which means either King, Queen, Prince or Princess.

Names that mean King/Ruler

Abimelech, my father is King (Biblical)

Alaric, ruler of all (Ancient Germanic)

Artaxerxes, righteous ruler (Ancient Persian)

Basil, king (English)

Berthold, bright ruler (German)

Cadeyrn, battle king (Ancient Celtic)

Cem, ruler (Turkish)

Conrí, wolf king (Irish)

Donald, ruler of the World (English, Scottish)

Edric, blessed ruler (English)

Emyr, king (Welsh)

Eric, ever ruler (English)

Flaithrí, king of princes (Irish)

Frederick, peaceful ruler (English)

Henry, home ruler (English)

Leroy, the king (English)

Malik, king (Arabic)

Melech, king (Hebrew)

Régis, ruler (French)

Rex, king (English)

Reyes, kings (Spanish)

Rhodri, king (Welsh)

Ríoghnán, king (Irish)

Roald, famed ruler (Norwegian)

Rórdán, little poet king (Irish)

Ruaidhrí/Rory, red king (Irish)

Theodoric, ruler of the people (Ancient Germanic)

Tudor, ruler of the people (Welsh)

Names that mean Prince

Amir, prince (Arabic)

Armel, bear prince (French)

Balder, prince (Old Norse)

Brendan, prince (Irish, English)

Brennus, prince/raven/king (Ancient Celtic)

Cadfael, battle prince (Welsh)

Fitzroy, son of the king (English)

Gruffudd, prince/lord (Welsh)

Idris, ardent prince (Welsh)

Maël, prince (Breton)

Mirza, prince (Persian)

Names that mean Queen

Indrani, queen of Indra (Sanskrit)

Malika, queen (Arabic)

Malka/Milka, queen (Hebrew)

Morrigan, great queen (Irish)

Rajni, queen (Sanskrit)

Rani, queen (Sanskrit)

Ratu, queen (Indonesian)

Regina, queen (English)

Reina, queen (Spanish)

Rhiannon, great queen (Welsh, English)

Ríoghnach, queen (Irish)

Taguhi, queen (Armenian)

Names that mean Princess

Adaeze, king’s daughter (Igbo)

Botum, princess (Khmer)

Gormlaith, illustrious princess (Irish, Scottish)

Kaur, princess (Punjabi)

Órfhlaith/Orlagh/Orlaith/Orla, golden princess (Irish)

Putri, princess (Indonesian)

Rajkumari, princess (Sanskrit)

Sarah, princess (English)

Talulla, princess (Irish)

Weekend Post: The World Beyond Ella Pt.II

 

Kala and Tarzan, from dvdizzy.com

As previously mentioned, I’m not a big fan of the name Ella, but I do find myself fond of several similar names to her. A few weeks ago, I wrote Pt.I of this series which discussed names similar to Ella, in that they too began with the letters El. It therefore seems apt to devote Pt.II of this series to names which end -la, as Ella does.

But this could get a little complicated since many -la names are also -ella names. Think Gabriella, Arabella and so forth, so I’ve resolved this by excluding all such from this list for fear of clutter. It’s not exactly the perfect solution, but frees me up to devote more time to other -la names worthy of attention. This is by no means a complete list, rather a selection of familiar and less-familiar names which end in -la, you may also query as to whether some could truly be alternatives to Ella, but that isn’t really the aim of this post. The aim is to explore names with similar characteristics to Ella, which are of the following do have:

Alaula – Hawaiian name meaning either sunset glow or light of the dawn.

Beulah – Biblical name meaning married. There’s a similar looking name, Betula, which comes from Latin and means birch.

Calendula – A botanical name for the English marigold.

Casmilla – A variant of the name Camilla. There’s also the name Milla, which is a short form of the latter name.

Carla/Carola – Both originally derive from the name Charles, which means man.

Delilah – Biblical name means delicate, weak and thin.

Embla – A name from Norse Mythology, where Embla was the name of the first human female, formed from an elm tree.

Fionnuala – Irish name meaning white shoulder. Variations include Fionnghuala, Finnguala, Finuall and, sigh, Fenella. She also shortens to Nuala, noo-la.

Iola – Likely to be a variation of the name Iole, which is a Greek name meaning violet. The name Viola is worth a mention here, too, alongside the Romanian name Viorel which also means violet.

Kala – Hawaiian version of Sarah, and a Sanskrit name meaning art form, virtue. Also the name of Tarzan’s mother in the Disney film.

Kamala – Sanskrit name meaning lotus.

Lila – She means play in Sanskrit, but may also be taken as a variation of either Leila or Lily. Lila is also the German word for purple. Slightly similar, but not entirely ending -la is the name Lillai, which is a Romani name meaning spring and summer.

Lola – Spanish pet-form of the name Dolores, which means sorrows.

Nahla – Arabic name meaning either drink or bee.

Orla – Also spelt Órlaith. She’s an Irish name meaning golden ruler – I sometimes see the meaning is altered to golden princess.

Perla – Italian form of the name Pearl

Petula – An elaboration of the name Petal, notably seen on British singer Petula Clark.

Thekla – Contracted form of the name Theoclea, which means God’s glory.

Theophila – Feminine form of the name Theophilus, which means friend of God.

Tuathla – Old Irish name meaning ruler of the people. Sometimes seen anglicised to Tuala.

Tula – Sanskrit name meaning balance, scales and likeness.

Twyla – Of uncertain origins, but she has been linked to the name Étoile and Twilight as possibly being an offshoot of either of them. Also spelt Twila.

Ursula – Latin name meaning bear.

Vela – The name of a constellation, originally part of Argo Navis which was later divided into three pieces, creating Vela, Carina and Puppis.

Willa – Feminine form of the name William.

When Penelope Gets Popular

Paloma Faith may inspire you, from metro.co.uk

When I originally penned the Clementine post, I never imagined doing a sequel post or even turning it into a series, but the fact of the matter is that the name Penelope is getting popular, and I’ve started to wonder about what alternatives are out there. This post started off as me pondering about what other names I could get Penny from (the final three being Typhena, Peony and Euphemia), but the original draft of such a post seemed like more should be said. An elaboration was in order, and a sequel was born. So, what other names could we use when Penelope gets too popular for our liking? Just to illustrate the fact that she has grown in popularity, here’s how she’s fared in the past few years:

	2003	2004	2005	2006
Rank	583	565	562	678
Births	50	55	59	46
	2007	2008	2009	2010
Rank	515	427	328	272
Births	72	99	135	181

A ranking of #272 is something to take note of, since she’s shot up from #678 in 2006 to where she is today. To start off with, it seems best to first approach this topic by asking what exactly are the kinds of names people are pairing the name Penelope with, either as sibling or middle names? A trip to the London Telegraph Birth Announcements was in order to find just that out, and it was an eclectic bunch of names to say the least; here is a cut-down version:

• Annabel
• Aurelia
• Bróna
• Clementine
• Esther
• Evelyn
• Dorothea
• Felicity
• Florence
• Georgina
• Harriet
• Hettie
• Horatia
• Jemima
• Lucinda
• Marissa
• Muriel
• Nancy
• Orla
• Scarlett
• Serena
• Willa

The names Clementine and Florence came up severeal times, whilst Lucinda also came up at least twice. There are some conflicting styles in the names, from the seldom heard Horatia, to the very Irish name Bróna. Since Florence is a clear favourite, it seems apt to kick off a list of suggestions with the younger Nightingale sister’s name: Parthenope. Like her sister before her, Parthenope was named after an Italian city, and like Penelope, she’s four-syllables. If long names are your preference, another four-syllable P name is Philomena, which shares Penelope’s Greek roots. Dorothea from the above list also shares this trait. Other four-syllable Greek names include:

• Angeliki
• Calliope
• Cassiopeia (technically five-syllables)
• Elisavet
• Eugenia (modern Greek form: Evgenia)
• Konstantina
• Louiza
• Ophelia
• Paraskeve (Pah-rah-ske-vee)
• Persephone
• Theodora
• Timothea
• Zenovia/Zenobia

But you may have no Greek heritage, which means the above list may means nothing at all to you. Fear not, for there are other, more English-based, options out there. The current leader of the pack for me is Peony. She’s floral, like Lily, and could also shorten to Penny if your heart so desires. I’m astonisahed that only 9 of them were born in England&Wales in 2010, because she is such a pretty name. I first came upon her, myself, when reading a book which I can’t for the life of me remember. But what I can remember was that Peony wore trousers with different coloured legs. She was an eccentric child, to say the least. Another seldom used name in England&Wales in Tolulope, given to just 4 girls in 2010, whilst Temitope was given to 10 girls.

Another P name that I reckon will be rising fast here in the UK in the next few years is Paloma. We’ve already had pop act Florence&The Machine attributed to the rise of Florence, and there’s another similar artist in the UK right now called Paloma Faith. She was the goth girl, Andrea, in the first of the rebooted St.Trinians films, but has since embraced colour to the max. Her name is Spanish for dove. Another British pop act, Mika, has three sisters named Yasmina, Paloma and Zuleika.

Going back to 2000, Penelope was given to 35 girls that year, as was Henrietta. Other names ranking similarly to her, and also containing four syllables (within 45-25 births) in 2000, with their 2010 ranking/birth number in brackets after are:

• Angelica (#531, 75 births)
• Henrietta (#730, 50 births)
• Ophelia (#559, 71 births)
• Valentina (#521, 77 births)
• Veronica (#452, 92 births)

As you can see, non of them have broken the Top 300 as Penelope has done, but they have all risen since 2000 and could rise further but maybe not as quickly as dear Penny. That leads us onto another point, one could simply use a nickname of Penelope instead. Aside from Poppy, which resides firmly in the Top 100, the nicknames are generally not as popular as their long form:

• Nell – #390
• Nelly – #747
• Penny – #396
• Petal – #3156
• Piper – #719
• Polly – #300
• Posy – #4688

I would also suggest Pippa as a nickname for Penelope, but she’s also on the express train to popularity at the moment. I guess one could argue that Philippa is another great alternative choice, who has actually been going backwards in the past few years. Other vintage-sounding P names include Patience, Prudence and Pearl, and Pomeline is a name with Royal heritage.

To conclude, Penelope is a great name with some great alternatives should her popularity put you off. My line on popularity is the same as always, though: if your heart says go for it, just go for it regardless of how popular the name may be.